Transmission

"TRANSMISSION"


My film was going to originally be "Abstracted Annapolis" and I was going to focus on in kind transitions of triangular shapes. With cuts between the towers and sailboat sails. I also had plans to shoot canted extreme shots of brick streets downtown to show the triangular corners. However during the shoot at Greenbury point I didn't like how the tower shapes were transitioning in my mind to the sailboats etc., also I didn't want to end up with a 'commercial' for Annapolis. I started thinking about the towers in regards to their telecom usage and came up with my new title, "Transmission" and began to work from there. I wanted to re-imagine the towers as communicators to space and the unknown. I also repurposed sailboats as space faring vessels. The theme of the piece is meant to be otherworldly and wonderment, with a slight eerie edge.

With the mid-shoot shift I learned to be flexible and trust my instincts. Luckily I was my own client so to speak so I had a lot of leeway with the direction of the finished project. I also used areas that I was readily familiar with, having previously worked at Greenbury Point and having shot many hours of photography there. Having a catalog of scouted locations in my mind saved me a lot of time in the production phase, allowing me to focus on what types of shots I wanted to get and move on instead of spending days scouting and planning locations. I also learned to go with spontaneity; the tower shake sequences were spur of the moment and helped shape the feel of the piece.

With input from my wife and professor I was unable to ignore the dry parts of the work and was able to make the more effective pieces of the whole. As mentioned above I'm very happy with the shower shake effect that was done in camera, not in post, that really help shape the entire piece. The blurred and blinking lights came out surprisingly just as I envisioned. However, the copse of trees didn't meet my intention of an otherworld planet landscape. The nature of the project, Abstract, lent itself to being able to create spectacle in post that maybe harder to capture in a straight narrative. I was also concerned about transmitting too much narrative in the film, having trouble separating theme from narrative.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Abstract
• Abstract art
• film
• short
• film class
• Annapolis
• MD
• Maryland
• transmission
• towers
• space
• moon
• spacy
• Outer space
• ufo
• alien
• aliens
• short film
• Outer Space
• Short Film
• Aliens (film)